Husband claims cancer death cover-up

THE family of deceased cancer misdiagnosis victim Ann Moriarty believe attempts were made to cover up mistakes in relation to her hospital treatment.

Her husband, Karl Henry, is in receipt of an internal email sent between two senior Health Service Executive (HSE) employees which he says contains disturbing revelations in relation to his wife’s misdiagnosis.

The email was marked “confidential” and forwarded to Mr Henry’s personal email address by a third senior employee in the HSE. Mr Henry is not immediately making public details of the email.

“The information that I am finding out each day is getting worse and worse, he said. “I have received information from a very reliable source that a cover-up was attempted at Ennis General Hospital,” he said.

“I can’t go into the details of what is in this email at the moment, I am working along with a number of other people on this campaign and I must consult with them before we decide what to do.

“The email was marked confidential and was sent to me with a note asking that I do not reveal its contents. I have taken advice on this and I don’t believe that I am bound by any issue of confidentially in relation to this information, because the email was sent to me without me asking for it. All I can say right now is that is contains some very disturbing revelations.”

Mr Henry lost his wife Ann, 53, to breast cancer earlier this year after she was given two all-clears from Ennis General Hospital.

He decided to go public on his wife’s misdiagnosis earlier this month after being frustrated in attempts to discover why she was twice given the all-clear.

She was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer on August 16 of last year, just five days after being given her second all-clear at Ennis General Hospital.

Mr Henry also gave a cautious welcome to the announcement of an independent inquiry into the deaths of his wife and fellow Clare woman, Edel Kelly, who was also given a false all-clear at the hospital.

He revealed yesterday that he has been in communication with the Health, Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), in relation to the inquiry’s terms of reference.

“I would welcome the independent inquiry but it is a very guarded welcome, and I would stress the word guarded,” he said.

“I will be very interested in the terms of reference of the inquiry and what exactly it will cover. I would hope that the inquiry would focus on the situation at the hospital generally, but not to the loss of the two people who have died.

“My wife has been described as a victim of an old system, but it is that system that needs to be examined — that is what I am worried about.

“There are serious concern in relation to accident and emergency services at Ennis General but my submission is about the care that my wife received. This cannot all be blamed on a service that is no longer in operation. Someone has to be held accountable.”